Quarterfinal: USA v Norway [R]

you're kidding, right? wambach is playing at an mvp level, clearly the dominant player of the tournament so far. she's actually DOING the things casey could only dream of in 2000. 95% of the knowing soccer population was screaming for his being yanked, as he botched opportunity after opportunity. it also didn't help that he was shockingly played in lieu of landon donovan. i tip my hat to casey's efforts in germany, but any comparison then to the wambat right now is insane.

 

I hope so too, but I am not holding my breath... However, as more and more young players developed in US, sooner or later we will have a truly dominating target forward. Hopefully, it’ll be sooner (someone to complement Freddy Adu).

 

I agree with you that Wambach looks to be a much better finisher -- Casey's finishing left a lot to be desired in 2000. But I still think he was dominant against the Czechs -- he was really creating havoc with his speed and size, in the same way Wambach is this world cup. He may not have been as dominant in the air as Wambach is, though.

 

Hege's Playing Time

That was a mystery to me as well. I talked to Norway's assistant coach Hans Knutsen after the South Korea match and I got the impression from him that if Norway was down a goal during the second half against the U.S. that Hege might play 20-30 minutes. Having her only come in for the final 7-8 minutes of the match didn't make much sense to me.

 

Bente's Collar

I was wondering about Bente's collar as well. My best guess is that she had to put some white tape over a non-approved logo. In any event, I'll ask one her teammates back in Norway and see if she wears something similar when she plays for her club team Kolbotn.

 

it seems to me that Bente Nordby plays better now than before, i was a little disappointed w/ her performance w/ her former WUSA's club.

 

Bente Nordby's Performance in the Quarters

Bente had her best season ever last year when her Norwegian club team Kolbotn won their first league title. In 18 matches, Bente only gave by 9 goals and Kolbotn only lost one match all season and that was 1-0 to perennial Norwegian league power Trondheims-Ørn.

Bente had several poor matches playing for the Carolina Courage during the first half of the 2001 WUSA season, but after playing extremely well in the European Championships for Norway, Bente finished the 2001 WUSA season allowing only four goals in her final five matches playing for Carolina and the San Diego Spirit. In those five matches Bente recorded victories over playoff teams Philadelphia and Atlanta and also shut out the Boston Breakers 1-0 in Boston.

The Spirit narrowly missed the playoffs during the 2001 WUSA season and if they had managed to edge out the Charge for the fourth and final playoff spot, Bente would have been the most likely starter for San Diego against the Atlanta Beat in the playoffs. Atlanta had the best record in the WUSA during the 2001 regular season, but Carolina and San Diego won both of the matches that Bente started against the Beat.

 

Bente Had Extra Motivation To Play Well In the U.S.

Thanks to Bauser here is a partial English translation of an article that appeared in the Norwegian paper Verdens Gang right before the start of the World Cup:


- Knakk sammen etter å ha fått sparken i USA

 

I have refrained from commenting about this incident in US soccer history to be sensitive to certain US fans - and I will continue to remain silent.

Nevertheless Casey does not have the same impact due to the differences between the men and women's game. Case in point, can you imagine how Michael Jordan would have been in the air as a soccer player? Or Lawrence Taylor with superb dribbling skill matched with his speed and size, would defenders bounce off him. I submit that Abby has unique skills that would be ordinary in the men's game but are unstoppable in the women's game. This isn't intended to be a put-down.